A Boss Building

New Jersey is the obvious place for Bruce Springsteen's archives. But why Monmouth? The 90-year-old private university not far from the Jersey Shore was home to many of Bruce Springsteen's early concerts, it turns out, taking place between 1969 and 1974. Furthermore, the BSACAM website reveals that the new building will be located very close to where, in 1974, The Boss — before that became his nickname — wrote “Born to Run,” what is arguably his most famous song. In the decades since, Springsteen has returned to Monmouth for various events, including for a rehearsal show of Springsteen on Broadway in 2017.

What exactly is BSACAM? Once completed in a few years, the 30,000-square-foot building will house around 35,000 items, ranging from articles and oral histories, to concert memorabilia, musical instruments, and promotional materials. It will be a repository for Springsteen's written works, photographs, periodicals, and artifacts. While the Center will serve to preserve and promote the legacy of Bruce Springsteen, it will also host exhibits, public programs, and educational initiatives about American music more generally, exploring the music of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Billie Holiday, Patti Smith, and others who both inspired The Boss and were inspired by his music.

The two-story rectilinear building will be accessed by a walkway recalling the boardwalks of the Jersey Shore, with the date “September 9, 1956” marking the threshold. To Springsteen, on that day, when Elvis Presley appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, America crossed a bridge of no return: “There was a joyous demand made, a
challenge, a way out of this dead-to-life world, this small-town grave with all the people I dearly loved and feared buried in it alongside of me.” With words like these, COOKFOX's decision to cover the building in weathering steel makes sense, as it recalls the industrial structures that symbolize the Rust Belt America Springsteen has eloquently written about.

Inside, given its mass timber structure, wood pervades. One end of the first floor will house the American music gallery and a temporary exhibition gallery, while at the other end will be a 200-seat theater, a two-story space with a large window facing the campus and landscaping designed by LaGuardia Design Group. Upstairs are the Springsteen gallery, an E Street Band gallery, and the archives, which has spaces for storage, looking at research materials, and listening to music. A campaign to raise $45 million for construction of the new building is underway, with the opening of BSACAM anticipated in spring 2026.